Alex paced the floor from one end of the room to the other as Eli patched me up.

Twenty-four hours had passed and we hadn’t heard anything about Ella, Allyson, or Summer.

“You got lucky,” Eli said, slathering a layer of something foul smelling on my arm before wrapping it.

“Tell me about it. He was aiming for my heart,” I answered.

Eli let go of my arm and darted a look at Alex when he passed by for what seemed like the millionth time and said, “Oliver should be back soon.”

When Oliver got a hold of the captain, the yacht was turned around and the crew had stood on deck with high-powered flashlights, shining them out across the water. I would have laughed, but nothing about it was funny. Once he felt like he’d exhausted his options, he docked and we were asked to leave. That had suited me just fine since I didn’t want the captain deciding to fire up the engine and head back to Miami before we could get off the boat.

Packing mine and Ella’s stuff up hadn’t taken long. Packing Allyson and Summer up had seemed to take forever. At one point, there was no more room left in the suitcases and half a closet worth of clothes to pack. We’d figured it out by stripping the pillowcases and stuffing those, then left the boat.

Once settled into the hotel that Alex directed the cab driver to, I’d called Oliver. The next thing I knew, Eli was pounding on our door explaining that they’d flown out minutes after I’d hung up with Oliver the night before.

Exhaustion sank deep in my bones. The need to sleep pulled at me, clouding my vision. I forced myself to stand and caught the edge of the little table in the half kitchen as the room dipped and swirled around me.

“What are you doing?” Eli snapped at me. “Sit down before you fall down.”

My ass hit the chair with a bounce.

“What’s taking him so long?” Alex asked, stopping long enough to look out the peephole of the door.

“He hasn’t been gone that long. When was the last time the two of you ate?” Eli asked.

Alex gave him a dirty look, saying, “You’ll have to excuse me, but I don’t give a damn about food right now. My wife and her sister are missing, in case that’s slipped your mind.”

Eli nodded, walked over to where the room service menu was, and then walked over to the phone. “Josh… burger?”

“Burger, chicken, the whole damn cow. I don’t care as long as it’s edible,” I answered, feeling the deep pangs of hunger twisting my stomach.

Up until Eli had asked, I would have passed it off as nerves. Maybe even fear, but there was no passing it off once I thought about it.

Eli rattled off a list of food and then hung up. “Food will be here in a little bit.”

Alex stormed up to Eli, grabbed him by the front of the shirt, and shook him as he said, “I don’t want food. I want you to find my wife. Is that so hard to understand?”

I stood as Eli raised his arms, putting his hands in the air. “I’m just the doctor, or, well, almost doctor. And I really like this shirt. I’d appreciate you letting go of it.”

Alex shoved him backward. For a split second, I wanted nothing more than to punch Alex in the face for being a dick to my friend.

Eli saw me and waved me away. “Look, I understand how you feel—”

“Is your wife missing?” Alex sneered. “No, she isn’t, so there is no way you could possibly understand how I feel.”

“No, but my friend is missing. And my friends are my family. She might not be my wife, but I still care for her and worry about her,” Eli said, talking in a tone that stayed even and smooth.

“We sit here doing nothing while God knows what is happening to them! Do you know how many threats her father gets?” Alex asked, jaw clenching.

He was a man on the verge of losing his shit and all I could do was watch because I didn’t have it in me to pacify him when I was barely keeping my own composure.

“Trust me, you might not be able to see anything happening, but I assure you people are working on it. We can’t just storm around the island blindly searching,” I told him.

“Why not?” he demanded. “Why haven’t we talked to the local police? Held a press conference? Why hasn’t Garett issued a statement offering a reward? He has enough money. People will do just about anything for money,” Alex argued as he began to unravel.

“The best people in the world are doing everything they can to figure out who has her. Bringing in local police would only create more red tape that we don’t have the time to cut through. We will find them, Alex,” I answered.

“Find them…” He snorted. “There should have been a call made. Something. Why hasn’t someone contacted Garett to brag that they had his daughter? Why hasn’t there been any demands?” Alex asked as his fist shot out and hit the wall with a sickening crack.

He bent at the waist, making a keening sort of noise as his knees hit the floor.

Eli sighed. “Well, that sounded like you broke a finger or two. Have a seat and I’ll get you something for the pain.”

“I don’t want something for the pain. I want my wife back.”

Eli pushed Alex down into the empty seat across from me and said, “Have it your way then.” 

“The first rule of being a hero,” Eli said, popping a fry into his mouth and chewing it before continuing, “is don’t break any bones.”

Alex grumbled past a bite of his own burger, chewing with a single mindedness as he cradled his splinted hand against his chest.

I’d been so hungry that midway through my burger I was already full.

Oliver had returned only moments before, looking tired and ready to bite the ass of the world. He’d pulled me aside briefly to tell me that our orders were to remain where we were until all means of travel had been exhausted. There were a lot of ways someone could disappear. Aliases would be crossed checked and CCT footage would be run for facial recognition. Unfortunately, all of that took time, but it beat wandering around with no real starting point. Had they been taken on shore, it would have narrowed it down, but not by much. Losing them over the side of the boat? That put the search world wide—and it was a big ass world.

“And the second rule?” Alex asked.

“Don’t die,” Oliver said, walking over and pulling the edge of the curtain back, staring into the waning sunlight. His hand twitched against the curtain, giving away his impatience. “You said Garett’s ex-stepdaughter had a verbal confrontation with Allyson and Summer, right?” he asked, adding, “What was the argument about?”

“Her non-existent trust fund,” Alex answered with a snort.

Oliver looked over his shoulder at him and asked, “And why is it non-existent?”

Alex sighed. “Family drama never really held much appeal for me. I stay clear of it, but in this case, Victoria, Summer and Allyson’s ex-stepsister by marriage, has been an absolute pain in the ass for the last year. Makes it hard to ignore someone who walks around with book-end Barbie Doll bodyguards.”

“They didn’t look like any sort of bodyguard I’ve ever laid eyes on,” I said, recalling the two girls who’d loomed behind Victoria. “They looked more like her little followers.”

Alex snorted. “Don’t let their looks fool you. Both have trained in some kind of martial arts, or so Victoria says. Then again, you never know if she’s telling the truth or lying when she speaks.”

“Do you know who they are?” Oliver asked.

Alex shook his head. “She’s never introduced them, and we never cared to ask.”

Oliver brought the phone up, typing a quick message as he said, “Let’s get back to the non-existent trust fund. Why would she think she had one?”

Alex’s eyes blinked slowly before he answered, “She would have if Garett and her mother had stayed married. From what I understand, Garett put a clause in the contract that stated if they were to divorce before Victoria reached the age of twenty-five, the trust fund would be revoked and Victoria wouldn’t see a dime of it.”

“When did they divorce?” Oliver asked.

“It was finalized two days before her twenty-fifth birthday.” Alex moved slowly to his feet. “She was two days away from being a millionaire. People don’t take it too kindly when they see that kind of money slipping from their fingers before they can even touch it. I have to lay down, or I’m going to be sick.” He stumbled to the bed and was out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

“The cameras you put up… can you go through the footage and look for those two girls?” Oliver asked me.

I eyed the bed, wishing I could lay down and rest. Even if it were for just a few hours.

Ella wouldn’t rest, I reminded myself.

Two hours later, Oliver had their faces loaded into the database. Five minutes after that, I put my head on the table and fell asleep.